Everyone, even people that know nothing about fitness, seem to think we need to stretch. I am starting to wonder if stretching is just a big fitness myth. Before I go any further, let me just mention I do plenty of flexibility training with all the PPTSWellness clients, both dynamic and static stretching as well as active and passive stretching. However, does stretching really do anything for us?

After watching a few NFL and NCAA football games this past weekend, I made some observations. There are times the athletes are off the field for 5 to 10 minutes at a clip, then when it’s their time to be on the field they go all out, sprinting, blocking and tackling for the length of their series. They didn’t get hurt and they certainly weren’t stretching and staying warm on the sideline. Baseball players sit in the dugout for what seems to be up to 30 minutes between being up at bat. They swing, sprint to first base and rarely get injured. Sure they pull a hamstring once in a while but that happens whether they stretched or not.

Static stretching pre-workout has actually proven to limit power production and according to a recent study does not prevent injuries. The study suggests doing dynamic stretching or a warm-up run pre-workout as opposed to static stretching. However, it didn’t seem the athletes this past weekend did any sort of dynamic stretching before their time on the field.

There have always been two schools of thought: those who believe wholeheartedly in stretching before exercise and those who believe wholeheartedly in doing nothing but the movement itself (with stretching performed afterwards). So it seems the latter prevents injuries just as much as the former.

As far as stretching is concerned, I like to do a movement prep (fancy name for warm-up) before the session incorporating movement patterns that not only warm up the body but also activate the neuro-muscular system. The movement prep can be altered to work balance and stability throughout the same movement patterns. I do perform a 10 minute static stretch to help reduce delayed onset muscle soreness post workout. With that being said, am I really preventing injury or am I just wasting time? Please tell us your thoughts in the comments section.